title: Pathological findings in South American fur seal pups (Arctocephalus australis gracilis) found dead at Guafo Island, Chile.
abstract: During four breeding seasons (2004-2008), 78 necropsy examinations were performed on South American fur seal pups (Arctocephalus australis gracilis) found dead on Guafo Island, southern Chile (43°36'S, 74°43'W). Tissue samples from 65 pups were examined microscopically. The primary causes of death were enteritis with microscopical lesions of bacteraemia (28.2%), starvation (23.1%), drowning (21.8%), trauma (19.2%) and stillbirth (2.6%). Those pups with enteritis and microscopical lesions of bacteraemia had haemorrhagic enteritis (100%), interstitial pneumonia (86%), periportal hepatitis (73%) and vasculitis (18%). The pups that died from starvation had atrophy of hepatocytes (61%) and cholestasis (61%). The pups that drowned had bronchoalveolar oedema (65%) and foreign bodies in the airways (65%). In animals that died from trauma, the main lesions were skull fractures (67%). This range of pathological findings is within what would be expected in a healthy otariid breeding colony.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Patología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Isla Teja s/n, Valdivia, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seguel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paredes
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pavés
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Henríquez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Groote
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schlatter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002423:Cause of Death; D002677:Chile; D046069:Fur Seals